I am using Lightroom 3, with the built-in Publish To Flickr feature. When I have a JPEG image (that isn't too large for Flickr), this feature works very smoothly.

However, I often have RAW images, that I have tweaked exposure, white balance, etc, on, and I want to upload them to Flickr. This is where the Publish to Flickr feature falls short. I see this error:

It is possible that the issue is not that the image is RAW, but that it is too large. Still, I would hope that the Flickr integration would scale the image down, if necessary.

(The publish to Facebook option works well for these, which surprises me, since I would expect Flickr to accept more formats, and I would expect the LR-FLickr integration to be more polished.)

So, is there a way to insert a Convert to JPEG operation before the actual publishing to Flickr? (I also want to scale the image down, if it is larger than a certain threshold.)

EDIT:
Thanks to @sebastien.b, I have hope! I know that I can export the images to my hard drive, and as part of that, convert them to JPG and scale them down. I can then publish those images to Flickr. This works, but I am hoping for something more smooth (unlike @sebastien.b, I have no particular desire to keep the JPG images on my hard drive, though their existence wouldn't bother me).

If there is an option to do this in the Flickr plugin options, I can't find it. This is what I am looking at, from the Plugin Manager:

There don't seem to be any user-servicable parts in there, unless I am missing something or looking in the wrong place.

what dimensions are the shots that fail?
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Rowland Shaw♦Oct 26 '10 at 15:11

@Roland It failed with an 18MP shot (I don't have the exact dimensions handy right now). It doesn't surprise me that the photo needs to be scaled down; it surprises me that LR doesn't take care of it behind the scenes (or give me an option to specify the max dimensions).
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pkaedingOct 26 '10 at 16:37

3 Answers
3

Your images are too large, which is not exclusively related to being RAW, JPEGs can be too large as well. The solution is to send a down-scaled version to Flikr.

Here's how:

Right-click on the Flickr 'bar' under Publishing service. From the menu that appears, select 'Edit Settings', that is the first option. The 'Lightroom Publishing Manager' will appear. You should see a big scrollable area on the right, scroll it until you see a heading that says 'Image Sizing'. If you do not see the size options, then expand the section by clicking on the heading itself. I use Lightroom 3.2, in case that makes a difference

I only shoot raw and I use LR3's Publish To Flickr service to export images as jpeg to Flickr with no problems, and with no requirement to do anything special just because they're raw. The publishing service takes care of resizing the output jpegs for me automatically.

When you say "falls short", what exactly is the problem you're experiencing?

I just edited the question to include a screenshot of the error. It is possible that the issue is not the file format, but the size of the image. Can LR scale the image down as it uploads?
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pkaedingOct 26 '10 at 2:48

2

Yes, Lightroom has excellent down-scaling options while publishing. You should specify a pixel-width and indicate 'long side'. That will make sure your images have no more then the specified number of pixels in any direction. You really should be be sending full-resolution images to Flikr unless you want your work to be stolen....and even that it will. Some guy even wrote to complain and say that my pictures looked crappy when printed! At 600px per side, I made sure of that!
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ItaiOct 26 '10 at 13:47

@Itai, So, how can I specify the down-scaling when publishing to Flickr? I know how to do that when exporting to my hard drive, but I am hoping that I can do it as part of the Flickr upload process.
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pkaedingOct 26 '10 at 14:31

1

Right-click on the Flickr 'bar' under Publishing service. From the menu that appears, select 'Edit Settings', that is the first option. The 'Lightroom Publishing Manager' will appear. You should see a big scrollable area on the right, scroll it until you see a heading that says 'Image Sizing'. If you do not see the size options, then expand the section by clicking on the heading itself. I use Lightroom 3.2, in case that makes a difference.
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ItaiOct 27 '10 at 1:31

@Itai Thank you! I just edited the question explaining that I couldn't find the option that @sebastien.b was describing, and then I saw your comment. If you would like to post this comment as an answer, I can accept it, since that was what solved the problem for me.
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pkaedingOct 27 '10 at 2:29

I use LR3's Publish To Flickr as well. My RAW files are 21MP, therefore to avoid the problem you mention I make sure the files are down-scaled to at most 2048 pixels vertically (my preference). Note that I first export my RAW files to JPEG, then publish my JPEG files. The reason I do this is because I want to keep a copy of my JPEG files on disk to share them with other devices on my network. However, the "Image Sizing" parameters are exactly the same in the Publishing Services, so the info below still applies if you want to publish RAW files directly to Flickr and resize on the fly. Check Adobe's Specify export image sizing for more info.

Select your Publish to Flickr service, and pick "Edit Settings". Go to the the "Image Sizing" section, check "Resize to Fit", select "Width & Height" and check "Don't Enlarge". Now in the "W:" input box enter "0" for width, and in the "H:" input box enter "2048" for height. The 0 value here instructs LR to constraint the width to your maximum height (here, 2048) while keeping the same ratio. Below is a screenshot for my Export preset, but the "Image Sizing" section is the same in your publishing service.

UPDATE: well, turns out this 0 value for "W:" was working when in LR2, not anymore in LR3. It will only let you go as low as 1, not 0. Good thing I kept my old presets around. Not a problem though, you can specify 2048 and 2048 in the input boxes, and your photo will be at most 2048 wide for landscape, and 2048 tall for portraits. If you feel adventurous, note that your Export Presets are stored in text files in your Lightroom User dir. For example, my "To JPEG (sRGB, 2048)" preset is stored as "To JPEG (sRGB, 2048).lrtemplate". If you entered 1 for "W:", you will find a "size_maxWidth = 1" line in your preset file, which you could modify with a text editor to "size_maxWidth = 0". Unfortunately I don't think I see such files for Publishing Services...

As was mentioned already, you may want to use 1024 if you are concerned people could steal your original photo for print. Or from Flickr, disable "Download Original".

Thanks, this sounds like what I was looking for. I don't think I saw any "Image Sizing" parameters in the Flickr publishing options, but I will look again when I get back to that computer.
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pkaedingOct 26 '10 at 19:46

I looked again, and I can't find the Image Sizing options. I have edited the question, with a screenshot. I know that you are following a slightly different workflow, since you want to keep a copy of the JPG image locally before publishing it.
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pkaedingOct 27 '10 at 2:27

1

Got it. You are not at the right place, you are looking at the Lightroom Plugin Manager here, not the Lightroom Publishing Manager. Look at the very bottom of the left panel in the Library Module. There is a section called "Publish Services", and there is a "Flickr" tab there: right click on it and select "Edit Settings". If there isn't a Flickr Publishing Service, you just need to instantiate a Flickr Publishing Service by clicking on the "+" button, and selecting "Go to Publishing Manager" and click "Add". Does it help?
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sebastien.bOct 27 '10 at 3:55